Good Morning
by nylasaur
Summary: Lavi is the self-proclaimed star barista at a coffeeshop at which Lenalee is a regular who never orders the same thing twice. Lavilena.


Lavi hated having the first shift at the shop. He hated having to wake up at four in the morning. He hated dealing with cranky customers who had just woken up. He hated how the people who closed the shop never cleaned up properly. He hated the smell of coffee before he'd had any.

In fact, the only thing Lavi _didn't_ hate about opening the shop was the girl who came in first thing in the morning.

She always gave her name as "Lena," but it sounded like she was pausing on the last syllable, as if there were more to say. A lot of things she said were like that, actually. But he was probably looking too much into it. A lot of the things Lavi did were like that.

Lena always ordered a different drink. She was a regular at the shop, but her order changed each day. He didn't think she'd ever ordered the same thing twice. Actually, he knew she hadn't. He remembered all the drinks she'd ordered. He wasn't memorizing them on purpose, of course! At least, not at first. Part of what made Lavi such a popular barista was that he had such a good memory. It was easy for him to recall that there was one regular who liked 1/5th of a packet of Splenda in their coffee, and one who liked 1/6th, and that they would both scream at him if he got it wrong. The customers loved him. It worked well.

But he could never get Lena's order. One day she'd order hot tea, the next iced coffee. Never anything off of the so-called "secret menu" (Lavi was always baffled by those requests) or anything particularly complicated, just different every day. He could never guess what it would be. The only thing that stayed constant was that she ordered it to go, and would leave as soon as he handed her the cup. It became sort of a game – he'd guess her order, and she'd tell him he was wrong. It was kind of refreshing, really; a break from all the regulars ordering the same exact drink each day, but it was also frustrating to meet someone – the first person in a long time – whom he couldn't quite pin down.

It wasn't until a few weeks of playing this game that he realized that Lena was stunningly beautiful.

He started _requesting_ the first shift in the morning.

He wondered if her order at bars was more consistent.

Lavi knew that he technically shouldn't flirt with Lena while he was working, but he was the only one there, and she was flirting back, and this was the only chance he had to see her. He could come up with more excuses if he was given time, but he didn't think he'd have to use them. He was always cleaning up the mess for whoever closed te night before every morning, so that should give him enough good karma. If he didn't snitch on them, then he shouldn't be snitched on, right?

So, he thought he might ask her out. He thought about it for a long time, but each time he got up the courage, it vanished the moment she entered. She always caught him off guard.

The bell rang, announcing Lena's entrance.

"Long time, no see," Lavi quipped as a greeting.

She smiled and approached the counter. "Hi. I'll have – "

He cut her off, wagging his finger. "No, no, no! You have to let me guess."

"Okay." Her smile widened. It always amused her, even though he did this every day.

"Uh… let's see… dark roast, two sugars, cream?" He paused, but when she moved to reply, he quickly added, "For here."

"Nice try. I'll take an English breakfast with one sugar and milk." She waited until he opened his mouth to continue, "To go."

"I was close."

"Sure." She handed Lavi her card. "For Lena."

"Of course." He turned away after handing Lena's card back and began to make her drink. Looking over his shoulder as casually as possible, he asked, "Hey, what comes after Lena?"

"Huh?"

"Your name. You pause at the end."

"Oh." She hadn't considered that he'd notice that. She hadn't even noticed that. "Lee."

"That's your last name?"

"No. Well, yes. Lenalee Lee."

"Oh."

"Don't you see my credit card every day?"

"Oh." He dropped a sugar cube into her drink. "Yeah, I guess I do, don't I?"

She looked out the window. "Um, I just say Lena because no one can ever spell Lenalee."

Lavi nodded understandingly. "No one can spell mine either. Seems pretty straightforward to me. L-a-v-i. Just how it sounds." He shrugged and reached over the counter to hand Lenalee's drink to her. "Anyway, here ya go, Miss Lenalee. One dark roast, two sugars, cream, for here."

She slipped a cover onto the cup, trying to make her genuine laughter sound sarcastic.

The bell on the door rang as another customer entered, and Lenalee hurried off. Lavi grinned and waved to her as she left the shop.

Once outside, she held her hot cup between gloved hands to warm them up. When the cover slipped, she noticed that he'd written "Lenalee" – spelled correctly, for once.

She wondered if he'd checked her credit card after all, but she couldn't keep herself from smiling.

* * *

Lavi found himself to be uncharacteristically distracted lately.

It was unlike him to get this worked up over someone else, especially someone he knew so little about. It struck him that he knew almost nothing about Lenalee at all.

He made a mental list of all the things he knew about her: She ordered a different drink every day. She always got it to go. She was _definitely_ flirting with him. She was gorgeous. She said she liked his hair. She came in before work every morning. Her phone case was white with pink polka dots, and she always had her phone in her hand. She worked as a paralegal, or something like that.

…Okay, so he didn't know anything about her, really. So what? That was what going out was for, right? If he could just get himself to ask her out, he could learn about her then. He couldn't deny that it was weird that he couldn't stop thinking about Lenalee even though he barely knew her, but it was so rare that he met someone whom he didn't understand that he couldn't help it.

Still, he wished she didn't affect him like she did.

He sighed and capped the drink he was making. He reached over the counter to hand it to the regular across the counter. He could hear her tapping her foot impatiently, even though he'd made it as quickly as possible.

As soon as the cup left his hands, though, he'd realized what he'd done. This was the regular who always asked for 1/6th of a packet of Splenda. He'd put in 1/5th. He braced himself internally as the customer took the first sip.

Lavi spent the next ten minutes getting yelled at while he remade the customer's drink. The line queued up while he frantically tried to fix his mistake.

That was another thing Lavi hated about having the morning shift: it was when they were busiest, and there was no room for mistakes. This screw up had set his rhythm off for the whole morning.

He had no time to be distracted by Lenalee. He knew there was only one way to get her out of his head.

Lavi had no choice but to ask her out.

* * *

Lavi rushed through his preparations for opening the shop, as if that would make Lenalee arrive earlier.

He unlocked the door at 5:55AM. Six minutes later, the bell rang. Lavi's hands were actually shaking, and he nearly knocked over the milk when he made his way over to the register. Lenalee raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She set her purse on the counter and pulled her wallet out while she waited.

When Lavi seemed composed enough, she said, "Good morning."

"Um. Hello."

Lavi seemed different somehow. He didn't seem tired, exactly, but Lenalee guessed that that must be it. It _was_ six in the morning, after all. She tended to forget that, since Lavi was so bubbly. To be honest, it was partially Lavi that helped to wake her up – not just the coffee. "Aren't you going to guess what I want?"

"Sure, but first – I have a question."

Lenalee blinked. "A question?"

"Yes."

"Okay, go."

"How about – " Lavi suddenly and completely lost his nerve. "How about... um, if I can guess what you want, you'll go out with me."

"What?" Lenalee giggled. "No way!"

He shrugged, keeping a sheepish smile glued to his face. "It was worth a shot, right?"

"Um, you can still guess, though." She fiddled with her wallet. "If you want."

"Sure. Well, then… it's cold out, so how about a large hot chocolate with extra whipped cream? For here."

"Nope. Give me a caramel latte to go. …But extra whipped cream does sound good, now that you mention it."

His grin widened. It seemed silly that he'd thought he'd had to fake a smile when she turned him down. Even if she wasn't interested in him that way, seeing her for a few minutes every morning was still nice.

"You've got it." He swiped her card and returned it.

While she watched him make her drink, Lenalee held her hands up to her face, breathing on them for warmth.

"It's cold," Lavi observed.

"Yeah."

"Feels like winter might last forever."

"We've got a ways to go," she agreed. "It's only December."

Lavi set her drink on the counter. "I hope this will warm you up a bit, at least."

"Thank you, Lavi."

"No need for thanks! You paid for it."

Lenalee shook her head. "I'll see you on Monday."

She left quickly. Two people had lined up while he was serving her, so Lavi didn't have time to appreciate that she'd called him by his name for the first time.

* * *

This time when Lavi opened the shop, he didn't even have seeing Lenalee to look forward to. He'd probably only see four or five customers the whole morning. That was just how Sundays were, and Lavi didn't like it. Without customers coming in one after the other, manning the shop was just boring, and there was no one to keep him company since his manager had them working alone whenever possible. But he wasn't in any position to turn down extra hours, so when his manager told him a coworker had called in sick, he got up, showered, and went to work on two hours of sleep.

He was exhausted.

When Lenalee came through the door, he thought he might be seeing things.

Lenalee almost turned around and walked out when Lavi slapped himself in the face, but he greeted her before she could make an escape.

"Hey there, Lenalee." He waved her over.

Her eyes were wide as she walked towards the register. "Are you… okay?"

"I'm just fine. What'll it be? No! Wait, let me guess… How about an Earl grey tea with two sugars? For here."

"No, not quite, I'd like a medium light roast with milk and one sugar."

"For here?"

Lenalee's cheeks were already pink from the contrast between the cold outside and the warmth of the coffee shop, but the color deepened when she muttered, "For here." and thrust her credit card into Lavi's hand.

Once she'd paid, Lavi returned her card, and Lenalee took a seat at one of the always-empty tables. She was still the only one there when he called out to let her know her drink was ready.

The shop was always slow on Sundays. Lenalee had never come in on the weekend before as far as he knew, and it was by pure luck that Lavi was working now. He didn't usually open on Sundays. He didn't usually work at all on Sundays.

Lavi couldn't stop himself from thinking that it was fate.

It was worrying Lenalee that Lavi was hitting himself so much.

* * *

Lavi stretched and yawned. He leaned on the counter by the register and rested his head on his hands. He glanced at the clock. Ten after. He'd unlocked the door fifteen minutes ago. Had he forgotten to unlock it? She would usually be here by now. Actually, she would usually be gone already! Maybe she was sick. Maybe she didn't want coffee this morning. Maybe she was running late and didn't have time for coffee. Maybe he'd said something to offend her yesterday.

As he went over their conversation from the day before in his head, he crossed the shop to check if he'd unlocked the door properly. Lenalee opened the door just as he arrived, nearly knocking him over.

"Oh – oh, I'm sorry!"

"It's okay."

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. Let's get you a drink, yeah?"

Lenalee followed Lavi back to the counter.

"So, what's it gonna be today? Let me guess – black coffee? Dark roast?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Lavi blinked at her, surprised at her hesitance. Lenalee always seemed to enjoy correcting him. Before he could speak again, though, she nodded and said, "That's right."

"…Huh?"

"You're right. I'll take a black coffee to go."

"Really?"

She handed him her credit card. "Really."

Lavi grinned. "Well, I'll have that right up for you, Miss Lenalee."

Lenalee fiddled with her phone while she waited for Lavi to finish her drink. She made it through three levels of Tetris before Lavi called out her name, as if she wasn't the only one there.

"So," she said, picking up her drink.

"So?"

"You got it right, didn't you?"

"Sure did!" Lavi jabbed his thumb at himself. "Lavi Bookman, master barista!"

"I meant…"

"Hm?"

"I meant," she mumbled, staring at the lid of her coffee cup, "you got it right, so when are you taking me out?"

"Huh?" Lavi raised his eyebrows. The realization hit him a moment later. "Oh! Oh! Right! Um… Friday?"

She nodded, still seemingly entranced by the top of her cup. "What time?"

"Um – we could go out for drinks – around nine?" Lavi suddenly remembered something. "Do you have a car?"

It was so hard to be shy when talking to Lavi. She laughed, finally looking at him. "Yeah. Let's go to dinner first. I can pick you up around seven?"

"Oh, you'll need my address – uh – "

Lenalee grabbed a napkin and scribbled her number on it. "Can you text it to me? I've got to run, or I'll be late."

"Oh – okay – "

"Friday at seven!" Lenalee called before pushing the door open and leaving the shop. Lavi nodded vaguely, blinking in disbelief at the napkin with her number on it.

Lenalee threw out the full cup of coffee at the trash can on the corner.


End file.
